Page 83 of Deceptive Lies

“Hold on, bro.” Jax nudged him and shot him a reassuring smile.

Sand flew up and surrounded them as Cade floored the gas, and a few minutes later they were turning onto a road. Fields lined either side of the narrow dirt road, interspersed with the occasional small hut of a house.

Where were they taking Willow?

Was Mahmoud really close by?

Could Cooper really have her back in his arms soon?

Hope started to edge away a little of the fear that had settled over him. At least now this wasn't all on Willow’s shoulders. They’d track them to wherever she was being taken, get confirmation that Mahmoud was there, then strike. It should be easy enough, the same thing they’d done dozens of times before over their careers. Just because the stakes for him were higher than ever didn't mean he would allow it to affect him.

This would go down without issue.

It had to.

Because if one tiny little thing went wrong, he would lose Willow and the future he could have had with her.

Just as hope pushed away more and more of his fear, clearing his head, calming him, allowing him to settle into the zone, prepare himself to do what he knew how to do, they rounded a corner and his world all but screeched to a halt.

The road before them was blocked.

A truck was parked in the middle of it, and surrounding it were what had to be at least two dozen cows. They were wandering aimlessly about, filling the space from the field on one side of the road to the field on the other.

Leaving them no access.

There was no way they could get past.

Which meant there was no way he could get to Willow.

Which left her alone and helpless in the hands of a man who would risk his own safety for a chance to make her pay for attempting to bring him down.

July 15th

11:03 A.M

The guys are coming.

Cooper is coming.

You did this once already you can handle it again.

Willow kept repeating those thoughts over and over again as the van she’d been thrown into careened down the road.

She wasn't alone in the back. The four men who had jumped out of the vehicle to grab her had gotten in with her. They sat around her, talking and laughing every time her unprotected body was tossed about. With her hands restrained behind her back and the bag over her head, she was helpless to do anything to stop herself from sliding across the floor of the van each time it turned a corner, braked, or accelerated too fast.

Her Arabic wasn't the best, she knew some basics but not enough to make out everything they said.

Not that she needed to.

Their tones were ones she’d heard plenty of times before as a young woman.

It seemed like the game plan had changed.

Before, when he was keeping her held hostage, Professor Mahmoud hadn't allowed any of his men to touch her in a sexual way. She’d believed it was because they viewed her as a dirty westerner, she was the enemy, and they hadn't wanted to contaminate their bodies by joining them to hers. That fit in with the propaganda she’d learned about Allah’s Warriors, they believed in abstinence as a way to draw closer to their god.

But the way the men were speaking now sounded like the professor was about to give them free reign to use her body as they wished.

Icy cold dread settled into her bloodstream, pumping its way through every inch of her until she shivered uncontrollably.

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